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Timeline Main Page Packrat Main Page
Seventh Crusade: 1245 to 1253, buildup to 1239 and aftermath to 1269
in a nutshell:
Jerusalem taken by Mamelukes then Egyptians
Louis IX takes and loses Damietta
Kings of Jerusalem: Yolanda, Frederick II, Conrad II, Conrad III, Hugh I
Byzantine Emperors: John III Ducas, Theodore II Lascaris, Michael VIII
Palaeologus
The Details:
1239 - Pope Gregory IX orders the kings of France, England, Spain and Portugal to confiscate Hebrew books, Following this edict, the Talmud is condemned and burned in France and Rome.
1244 Jul 15- Mamelukes or Khwarezmians take Jerusalem. No one is terribly interested in the Crusades any more.
1245 - King Louis IX of France launches a crusade against the Muslims in the middle east when the crusade against the Cathars in southern France is over. Brothers Charles I of Anjou and Alphonse join him.
1247 - Egypt captures Jerusalem.
1248 Aug 25 - Louis IX leaves with 20,000 including his wife, two brothers Robert of Artois, Alphonese of Poitiers, and a score of cousins, Charles of Anjou, the chronicler John of Joinville. This crusade was well planned and well stocked. They spend the winter at Cyprus, arriving at Limassol on Sep 18, received by King Henry of Cyprus, and joined by the barons of the area, the Masters of the Templars and the Hospitallers. Everyone asks for his help, Templars against Syria, the Latin Empire against Antioch and Nicaea. Instead, Louis heads out, arriving at Damietta at the Nile in 1249 with only a quarter of his army, thinking Egypt would make a good base from which he could take Jerusalem.
1249 - Louis arrives on June 4, leaves the ship on June 5, won't wait for his troops and battles against Egyptian Sultan of Cairo Fakhr ad-Din and his Mameluke warriors who withdrew to Damietta under the cover of darkness after realizing the city won't hold and retreats up river with the Moslems. June 6 Louis walks into abandoned Damietta. The old and dying Sultan Ayub offers Jerusalem for Damietta, Louis declines.
The annual flooding of the Nile isolates the Christians until October when reinforcements from France, commanded by Louis's brother Alfonso of Poitou arrive.
1249 Nov 20 - Louis leaves queen Margaret in a well fortified Damietta and marches to Cairo as the Ayyubid Egyptian sultan as-Salih Ayyub dies at al-Mansourah, a city built by Al-Kamil in the exact spot of the Battle of al-Mansura in 1221. The Sultana hides his death until she gathers her son, Turan-shah, from Syria. Both armies are set in by Dec 21. One story tells how an Egyptain placed a watermelon on his head like a helmet, floated down the Nile where a Templar happily picked it up, and instantly became a prisoner.
1250 Feb 8 - The king's brother, Robert of Artois and the Templars attacked the Egyptian camp at al-Mansourah against Louis's orders, commander Fakhr ad-Din is killed, not ready for the attack and taking a bath. While they were victorious, Robert followed the retreating Egyptians to Mansourah. The Mamelukes regrouped under Rukn ad-Din Baibars and attacked. 285 Templars, the Lord of Coucy, the Count of Brienne, the Earl of Salisbury and all his English knights, and Robert of Artois were all killed. Five Templars lived, Grand Master William lost one eye, and severely wounded Duke Peter of Brittany carried the news to Louis, just across the river. Louis' main force was attacked by the Mameluk Baibars, the commander of the army and a future sultan himself. Louis managed to get his bowmen across the river by building a bridge, at which point the Egyptians retired to Mansourah victorious. More attacks followed, but Louis managed to hold up.
1250 Feb 28 - Turan-shah arrives, blockades the Christians who offer Damietta for Jerusalem, the Egyptian declines.
1250 Apr 6 - Louis finally heads back to Damietta, is captured (or Philip of Montfort negotiated a surrender with the sultan) at Sharimshah at the Battle of Fariskur, the last battle of the Seventh Crusade. The army is too large for the Egyptians to handle, so they behead 300 of the weakest men. Louis becomes ill from dysentery and is attended in chains by an Arab physician.
Queen Margaret gives birth to a son, Jean Tristan (John Sorrow), three days after hearing of Louis's capture, and manages to convince the Italians not to abandon Damietta with her own purse. She and her son are moved to Acre.
1250 May 2 - Turan-shah gave a great banquet when offended Mamelukes led by Baibars Bundukdari tried to kill him. After a chase thru a tower set on fire and in a river where Baibars hacks him to death, Mamelukes now rule Egypt despite the puppet Sultan they soon elect. The Patriarch arrives, trades Louis for Damietta and a ransom of 800,000 pounds. Louis pays half the ransom, leaves for Acre, one of the last remaining Crusader cities in Syria, and the Mamelukes kill the wounded soldiers left behind.
1250 May 12 - Louis arrives at Acre, but can't pay the other half of the ransom for his men left behind.
1250 - Frederick II dies, leaving Sicily and Germany to his son, Conrad II, as well as the title King of Jerusalem.
1251 - The Mamelukes revolt created the Mameluke dynasty that took control of Cairo also split Damascus and Cairo as the Syrians resented the killing of Turan-shah. An-Nasr Yusuf of Aleppo, great-grandson of Saladin, occupied Damascus and opened negotiations with Louis. The Ayubites of Damascus invaded Egypt but were fought off.
Due to the rivalry between Mamelukes and Ayubites, Louis managed to exchange 3000 Christians for 300 Moslems and a promise to aid Cairo against Damascus. Louis spends 1252 working from Jaffa repairing various towns. Mamelukes would not leave Egypt but it was peaceful.
1253 - An-Nasr Yusuf of Aleppo gets Baghdad to negotiate with the puppet Sultan, Aibek, Damascus and Cairo join forces to fight the invading Mongols. Any deal with the Christians is forgotten.
Louis makes an alliance with the Mamelukes to rebuild Acre, even tried negotiations with the Mongols, newly arrived on the scene from the east. The Khan rejected Louis' invitation to convert to Christianity, and instead suggested Louis submit to him.
1253 Apr 24 - Louis is needed at home as his mother, Blanche of Castile died Nov 1252. He goes home a hero. Thus ends this Crusade.
1254 - Theodore II Lascaris becomes Emperor of Constantinople to 1258.
1254 - Conrad II is excommunicated, leaving the title of King of Jerusalem to his infant son, Conradin (Conrad III) born in 1252.
1258 - John IV Lascaris becomes Emperor of Constantinople at age 8, Michael VIII Palaeologus is his regent.
1259 - Michael VIII Palaeologus blinds John IV and becomes sole Emperor, crowned 1261 with his infant son, Andronicus as co-Emperor.
1264 - At the siege of Safed, ninety Templars met death, eighty others were taken prisoners, and, refusing to deny Christ, died martyrs to the Faith.
1265 - Mamluk sultan Baibars has captured Nazareth, Haifa, Toron, and Arsuf. Hugh III of Cyprus is the nominal king of Jerusalem.
1267 - Louis IX calls for another crusade and there is little support this time; Jean de Joinville, the chronicler who accompanied Louis on the Seventh Crusade, refused to go.
1268 - Antioch falls to the Mamelukes. Tripoli is still under Christian rule.
1268 Oct 29- Conradin is beheaded as a traitor by Charles of Anjou and the French, the last Christian King of Jerusalem. Hugh I takes the crown.
1269 - Baibars takes Tripoli.
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